1. Field of the Invention
The disclosures herein generally relate to an image forming system, a management apparatus, a communication control apparatus, an image forming method, and an image forming program for forming an image on an image forming medium, and particularly relate to a technology using a management apparatus to manage and operate image forming functions to be provided to users.
2. Description of the Related Art
A related-art image forming system may include apparatuses having software as shown in FIG. 20. Software installed in a PC (personal computer) 100 includes an application software AP for creating and editing document data and image data, a printer driver PDa for generating print data such as PDL (Page Description Language) data based on a metafile that defines a print procedure as requested from the application software AP, and a print data transmission module DSM for transmitting generated print data to a printer PRNa. These software components operate in collaboration with each other to generate print data that has a data format decodable by the printer PRNa based on document data or image data stored in an HDD 109, and transmit the print data to the printer PRNa together with a print request and information indicative of print conditions. The printer PRNa has a print data parse DP installed therein for decoding (interpreting) the print data and generating output-format data in a data format that is recognizable by the printer engine. Based on the operation of this software component, an image is formed and printed on a recording paper sheet based on the print data received from the PC 100.
The problem in such an image forming system is that there is a question as to how to best manage various combinations of a printer driver PDa installed in the PC 100 and a print data parse DP operating at the printer PRNa.
In order to perform proper printing in the image forming system described above, the printer driver PDa installed in the PC 100 needs to be able to generate data in a proper plotter output format that is decodable by the print data parse DP operating at the printer PRNa. That is, there is a mutual dependency between the print data parse DP and the printer driver PDa.
Because of this, the image forming system cannot flexibly and readily cope with a change in its system environment such as an addition or removal of apparatus such as a PC 100 or a printer PRNa, a change of the OS (operating system) of the PC 100, and an upgrade of the print data parse DP operating in the printer PRNa.
There are some patent publications that disclose technologies for overcoming such a problem.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2003-280842 (hereinafter referred to as Patent Document 1) discloses a method of updating a printer driver by uploading a printer driver to a Web page, comparing the version of an installed printer driver with the version of the uploaded printer driver, and downloading the uploaded printer driver to the PC upon finding that the versions are different. Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2006-134245 (hereinafter referred to as Patent Document 2) discloses an automatic printer-driver install system that performs an automatic install procedure inclusive of making proper connection settings and print settings by downloading a printer driver suitable for a printer selected by a user to be used from a database provided at an external apparatus. Such technologies allow a user to readily and conveniently update a printer driver.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2006-155288 (hereinafter referred to as Patent Document 3) discloses a server apparatus and a printer setting method that install a client printer driver to a server, and assign a printer the same as the client printer to the installed printer driver if the printer driver installed in the client is found to be an unregistered printer driver at the server in a server-based computing system. This allows the same printer driver to be managed and used by the client and the server.
The related-art image forming systems disclosed in Patent Documents 1 through 3 as described above have the following problems.
In the image forming systems described in Patent Documents 1 and 2, a printer driver PD is automatically installed, without requiring user intervention, to an apparatus that is used by a user at the time the user requests printing. In the image forming system disclosed in Patent Document 3, a printer driver PD can be automatically installed to be managed and used by the management apparatus.
In these related-art image forming systems, a printer driver PD having mutual dependency with a print data parse DP operating in an image forming system is managed and operated by each apparatus that is used by a user at the time the user requests printing. It thus follows that the memory area of the memory provided at each apparatus used by a user at the time the user requests printing is inefficiently utilized. For example, a plurality of users may use an image forming system. When print requests to use the same image forming apparatus are made, the printer driver PD corresponding to the image forming apparatus to be used will be installed in each one of the apparatuses that are used by users making the print requests.
In consideration of this, it may be preferable to use only one apparatus for the purpose of managing and operating a printer driver PD as opposed to a related-art configuration in which such a printer driver PD is installed in each apparatus that is used by a user at the time the user requests printing. In such a new configuration, each apparatus that is used by a user at the time the user requests printing may use the printer driver PD installed in the above-noted apparatus for the purpose of printing.
Further, image forming apparatuses used in an image forming system may be products of different manufacturers.
In recent years, various manufacturers have been providing inexpensive and high-performance image forming apparatuses to the market. Users purchase image forming apparatuses that match their needs and operating environments. In some cases, an image forming system may end up including an image forming apparatus that is manufactured by a maker different from the maker who has provided the image forming system.
In consideration of this, a maker who provides an image forming system using a single apparatus for the purpose of managing and operating a plurality of printer drivers PD corresponding to image forming apparatuses needs to accommodate a printer driver PD corresponding to an image forming apparatus manufactured by another maker. That is, it is preferable for the system maker to provide an image forming function that allows such a foreign printer driver PD to be easily managed and operated in the same manner as printer drivers PD corresponding to image forming apparatuses of its own making.
As described above, the related-art image forming systems cannot flexibly cope with a change in the system environments (e.g., an addition or removal of apparatus), especially when image forming apparatuses of different manufacturers are installed. Further, issues that have not been addressed for such systems include the issue of how to centrally manage and operate printer drivers PD corresponding to these image forming apparatuses to provide proper image forming functions to users.
Accordingly, there is a need for an image forming system, a management apparatus, a communication control apparatus, an image forming method, and an image forming program that can flexibly cope with a change in system environment such as an addition of an image forming apparatus manufactured by a different manufacturer.